Boys in the Delta hamming it up for the stranger's camera (when Anne, the Canadian, was visiting with my supervisor)I started my last blog with a quote from "The Office," since that's sort of how I was feeling before my supervisor's visit. Thankfully, she re-directed me to being aware of my sense of call and knowing who I really serve (not a mission board or a church or a supervisor, but the Creator of all things, slightly different focus).
I've been having some emotional and spiritual "good times" lately -- you know, those times that are like mini-deaths in that they require more release and giving up and sacrifice and death to personal dreams but which are really excellent because they take us closer and closer to seeing what is really real and worth living and dying for. I've been in Philippians 3 and 4 and Ezequiel 16 and Hebrews 12: 1 - 24 and Revelation 1 - 3. I've also been listening to some Alanis Morissette songs, and particularly enjoy "Head over Feet," "All I Really Want," "Everything,"(warning, there's a swear word in it) and "Thank U." (These links take you to the lyrics, the videos/music are all on YouTube.)
So, besides super-deep spiritual reasons, why am I here? It's a change in profession (again), geography (again) and friendships (again), but here's someone I've fallen for:
The other day in the Delta there was a boy, Jose (not his real name), who was really sweet during our Bible story, but the other kids said he couldn't write yet (he showed me a paper of his that had mock letters on it). Then later he was ornery, sitting alone at lunch and using an orange as a ball. He didn't respond to me telling him to stop with the orange, and Daniel went to talk with him, but he still was just ornery.
His mother was helping out in the kitchen that day and was really helpful, cleaned the kitchen of the feeding center amazingly well. Later on over mate tea Monica tells me that she doesn't know which came first -- Jose's learning disability or his mistreatment at home. She says that his mother once tied him to a tree outside and left him in the rain.
It's just incredible what these kids go through, and what the parents probably went through before them. God, shine your light here!
